Rules Of Seduction
by unwittlyfriend
Summary: I set firm rules for myself when I agreed to test the faithfulness of my friend's famous boyfriend. No unnecessary texting. No hugging. Don't borrow his clothes. And her main rule "I Trust you not to fall for him". "just seduce him, and make him fall"


I DONT OWN ANYTHING!

"These people walk in front of your car on purpose, Rosalie. I swear."

My roommate, Rosalie, just laughed at my frustration and continued to maneuver around the people traffic that was clogging up the streets right outside of the Cinema Arts building. Even though our apartment was a good 30 minutes away from the USC campus, Rosalie always gave me a ride whenever my POS '89 Ford Tempo wouldn't start. Which was every other day, pretty much. My car was a beast. I named it "Fluffy".

I had three minutes to get to class, and my professor would literally end my life if I was late again.

"Actually I wouldn't mind if you hit that girl. Is she wearing a scrunchie?" I asked in disbelief as a woman passed in front of our car with an electric blue scrunchie holding up her blonde hair.

"I mean I'll all for retro looks but, duuude."

"Maybe it's making a comeback," Rosalie said as she honked lightly at a biker who whizzed by her front bumper.

"Screw it, I'm jumping out here. Can't have you going to jail for vehicular manslaughter, can we?" I said before opening the door and hopping out. Rosalie leaned over the passenger seat to look up at me.

"That's what best friends are for, Bella. To go to jail for each other. So I'll pick you up in a couple hours, right?" she asked me as the car behind her honked.

"Yeah. I've got to get to the editing lab and get going on my semester project. But I'll call you. Thanks Rosalie!"

She waved and pulled away and I started jogging down the sidewalk.

"Scuse me! Watch out! Oh, sorry!" I shouted out as I ran through the mass of people crowding around outside my building. Finally, I broke free of the crowd and lunged into the doorway, up the stairs, and through the door just as my professor went to go close it.

"Ah, Miss Swan. Glad you could join us. You know, getting that degree in film would be awfully hard if you don't come to class, Isabella."

I wrinkled my nose at the sound of my full name, and then grinned at Dr. Jenkins. He may give me a hard time, but I know it's because he likes me.

"You know me, fashionably late because I'm great," I chimed as I walked to the back of the lecture room.

I settled in with my laptop as Dr. Jenkins launched into a lecture about...something. Unfortunately, I was too busy checking to really pay attention. No matter, I'd get the notes from someone else later.

I know I should have been paying attention. It was only my second year at USC's film school, and I have yet to fully decide on what exactly I wanted to do with my degree. I loved directing, and writing. And producing. And editing. Whenever I thought about the future, I just decided to not make a decision. And that was a decision in itself, wasn't it?

At 20 years old, adulthood seemed far away. Especially with someone as unpredictable as me. What can I say, most of the time I don't know what I'm doing, where I'm going, or if I'm supposed to be somewhere. Hence, my habit of being ten minutes behind ALL the time. Seriously, if there was an award for being late, it would be given to me. And of course, I'd be late to the ceremony when they gave it to me.

One thing I did know was my love for film-making. Which was why I packed my bags as soon as USC sent me their acceptance letter. I was an only child, so the move was especially hard on my parents. It couldn't have been easy to let their only child make the move from the safe and boring state of Michigan to the crazy and unpredictable city of Los Angeles. Crazy and predictable was so much more me though.

And Rosalie? Well, if I was unpredictable, she was the complete opposite. She loved routine and hardly ever colored outside the lines. She graduated from USC last year, and was currently working in the editing room for Entertainment Tonight. She was just starting out, which meant she spent most days logging tapes and answering phones. She worked, hung out with me, and listened to a lot of hippie music. That was her routine. But I adored her, regardless of her distaste for anything on the pop charts.

I didn't have many other friends besides her out here. Just Eric, who was in the film program with me and was one of the few I could stand around here. Seriously, did everyone think they were the next best thing? Not only did they think that, they acted like it. Eric didn't. He loved directing, and he wanted to pursue it. And he knew he needed to work hard, just like all of us. Why is that lost on some people here? Stop gabbing about brunches with Spielberg and start doing your work.

Of course, I wish I could eat egg's benedict with Spielberg. Maybe he could help me choose what the hell to do with my degree.

Hours later, long after classes were done, Rosalie and I were headed home to our two bedroom apartment in nearby Culver City. It was Monday, which meant I had a full night of TV watching ahead of me. How I Met Your Mother, One Tree Hill, and the Hills were all waiting for me. The Hills may not be brilliant television, but damn if watching Spencer and Heidi implode in front of my eyes wasn't the most entertaining thing ever.

As soon as I got into the apartment, I ripped my vans off, stripped out of my gray skinny jeans, and almost fell pulling my black t-shirt over my head. I left a line of clothes from the front door to my bedroom, which I knew Rosalie would pick up later while cursing under her breath about my messiness. Emerging from my room moments later in an over sized t shirt and argyle knee socks, dinner was the only thing on my mind.

"How was class today?" Rosalie asked me as I threw some leftover pasta in the microwave. I threw my long brown hair into a messy bun on top of my head while I watched my food spin.

"Good. The profs are more interested in getting our butts in gear on our semester project than lecturing so, that's good news."

"What are you doing again?"

"Editing a music video that Eric shot. He took so much footage, I don't even think I'll even watch it all before semesters end, let alone edit it together."

"ET is starting. Get over here and watch my brilliant editing skills."

"Rosalie, you answer phones."

"Touche. Come watch anyways."

"Hold on, I gotta get out of these contacts."

I skipped into our bathroom and marveled for the millionth time how Rosalie puts up with me and my sloppy ways. Her side of the bathroom was organized, down to the placement of her toothbrush. My side was littered with face products, countless headbands that each only gets worn once, and clothes that spilled over the edge of the counter and on to the floor.

I pushed aside a black sweater dress and found my contact case. I wear clear contacts, because the natural brown in my eyes was pretty enough for my liking. My glasses however, we're thick and black rimmed, and we're very ugly by anyone's standards. But I was blind as a bat without them, and I thought they were funky.

"Heyyyyy, nerd," Rosalie commented as I came out with my glasses on. She always called me that whenever I wore them, and it never got old to her. I just flipped her off as I walked back to the kitchen.

"Make sure you save me some of that. I can't have your garbage disposal ways devouring everything in our fridge," she added.

"Bite me. I can't help it if my stomach never gets full."

"Well, you might want to relay to your body that when you eat as much as you do, you get fat. I'm sick of starting at your stick legs and bony arms."

"I can't help it. It's genetic," I shot back. It was true, I'm one of those girls everyone hates who eats what they want and can't gain weight. I wasn't sickly thin like Rosalie often proclaims, but I seemed to be blessed with an insatiable appetite and a great metabolism. Which I hated, Believe me, I wish I could put on some pounds or some muscle. Rosalie had curves. Rosalie had shape. Most importantly, Rosalie had boobs she was drop dead gorgeous. I on the other hand wasn't so much as skinny; I did have what I would like to think of curves... I had boobs but not as much as Rosalie but I could still show some cleavages.

I grabbed a plastic fork out of a drawer and shoveled some food into my mouth as I walked into the living room. I sat in my chair and watched with Rosalie in silence for a while.

I loved everything about the entertainment industry. Everything. The gossip. The art of it. The celebrities and their scandals. The whole film making process. Behind the scenes stuff. My love knows now limits, which is why I was currently in school to somehow join the industry. With all the blogs I read and the fact that my roommate worked at a show specializing in entertainment news, I was always one step ahead of all my friends when it came to the latest buzz. Not that many of them cared to discuss Team Brad or Team Jen, but still, it was fun to talk about.

The show turned then to the band the Cullen Brothers, talking about their latest television show. There they were, in all their tight pant, shiny hair glory.

"Bella, look it's your boyfriend."

"Ok, one time I mention that the curly haired one is too cute to be that young and all of a sudden he's my boyfriend? Stop. That's illegal. And a little creepy."

I'm not going to pretend to be one of those girls who think they're too cool for the Cullen Brothers. Or anything to do with the bands. Yeah, I knew the words to quite a few of their songs? I liked their music. They were easy on the eyes. They seemed pretty cool. And that young one was so adorable. I mentioned that to Rosalie once when I saw them on MTV and she seems to think I'm a crazy fan.

"Isn't your friend dating one of them?"

"Yeah, Jessica."

"Which one is she banging?"

"I don't think they're banging."

I squinted at the TV, trying to figure out which one Jessica had recently squealed to me on the phone about. But the pictures were moving too fast.

"Rosalie, can you memo your boss and tell them to stop with the quick cuts? I can't focus on anything."

"Yeah, I'll be sure to bring that up. What's his name?"

"She's dating Edward. I'm not sure which one that is..."

A reporter on the show was interviewing them and I got my answer.

"Hey guys I'm Jasper."

"I'm Emmett."

"And I'm Edward. And you're watching Entertainment Tonight."

I let my eyes settle on Edward. That was the one she was dating. Jessica was another person I met on my move out here. She was in the acting program at USC, but she dropped out to pursue it on her own. So far she'd only gotten bit parts on television shows and some commercial work. Her crowning glory was her one line on an episode of the new 90210, where she simply said the words "see ya". Groundbreaking.

Jessica was pretty, peppy, and larger than life. She talked a mile a minute, and most conversations with her were one sided. But she was sweet and fun to be with, so we remained good friends even after she left school to break into the business.

"Well, maybe you can use her to get to that kid," Rosalie offered as the interview with the Cullen Brothers rolled on.

"So, while you go to jail for hitting someone with your car while driving to class, I'll be in the cell next to you for sex with a minor. Awesome. Rosalie, again, I'm not into the younger ones. I just think he's cute."

"How did Jessica even bag one of them boys? I thought she was still on the Z list in Hollywood."

"I don't even think she's on any list. She met him at a show. Not their show, some other band. Honor roll or...some name like that. She was there, he was there. She's pretty, he's pretty. They met, hit it off, exchanged numbers and there you have it. Relationship with a Cullen Brother. Romantic, huh?"

"Totally."

I watched as the Cullen Brothers wrapped up their interview. I studied Edward a little more closely. Jessica told me he was really funny, but kind of quiet when he wanted to be. He was careful about his clothing and his hair, and he always asked her if he looked ok. She also told me that he was hesitant to really open up to her just yet, because they were still a new couple. And the one thing that bothered her most was his busy schedule, which meant a lot of phone time. And of course, the fact that they couldn't actually be seen in public together, at least, not on purpose.

But she was crazy about him, that much was for sure. And as I watched Edward on the television, moving his hair off his face and smiling politely, I could at least see what Jessica saw in him in the first place. Good-looking, nice smile, famous pop star.

Rosalie waited until a commercial then decided to bombard me with questions.

"Is he really a virgin?"

"Don't know."

"Does he drink?"

"Don't know."

"Is Jessica serious about him?"

"I don't know, Rosalie! All she told me was his name, that he was in the Cullen Brothers, how they met, and she liked him a lot. That's all."

"Sorry, dude. I just thought it'd be a more interesting story."

"Me too. Apparently it's just a lot of phone calls, secret dinner dates, and sneaking backstage to his shows. We've all heard the dating celebrity stories. I know my class is full of them. Well, not really dating celebrities but sleeping with them."

"So, they are sleeping together?"

"No, I don't think so. She would've told me. They have rings that symbolize their promise to keep the little Cullen in the pants. And she says his parents are around like, 24/7. That's probably a mood killer. And the fact that Jessica is sticking around when she's not getting any, that says a lot. She probably really does like him."

"Hm, this situation just got really boring."

I laughed and got up from the couch to find something else to inhale in the kitchen. Rosalie was fiddling with the TIVO while I rummaged through the cabinets.

"Well, I guess being involved with the Cullen Brothers is just that. Boring," I mused from the kitchen.

Rosalie shook her head in thought.

"Man, someone needs to go in there, shove a drink down their throat, hire them a stripper and get some excitement in their lives!"

I grabbed a bag of chips and shut the cabinet door shut with my hip. My shows we're starting, and I was done with talking about the Cullen Brothers. Except for one final thought.

"Rosalie, if Jessica ever brings her boyfriend over here, don't talk to him. In fact, just don't go near him."

"I won't if you won't."

I leaned over from my chair and gave her a high five.

"Deal."


End file.
